Tag Archives: Fingerprint

POLICE DATABASE EXPANDS: You may remember the
Kitsap Sun story about the Law Enforcement Information Exchange
(LinX), in which Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents
were working to thread together a database of all reports gathered
by local law enforcement agencies. (The effort began in a Levin
Road basement.) Keep in mind that prior to 9/11, a lot of data
collected by law enforcement, including field interviews, mug
shots, and investigative narratives, could only be accessed only by
the agency that created them.

I asked Keith Haines, LinX’s regional program manager, how it
was going. He said LinX, which already encompasses most law
enforcement agencies on both U.S. coasts, has begun integrating
with the FBI’s “N-DEx” system, which
will host a nationwide database that hopes to include all U.S. law
enforcement reports.

FINGERPRINT SCANNERS: Did you know King County
Sheriff’s Office is using pocket-sized fingerprint scanners to
identify uncooperative and unscrupulous suspects? Regular readers
of the Kitsap Sun will know these
debuted in Kitsap County five years ago. The followup,
by the Seattle Times, is that they’ve got more of the bugs in
them worked out.

HOMEOWNER CONFRONTATION: Imagine going outside
your home to find someone holding your machete and chainsaw. Not
only do you own them, but you wouldn’t want a stranger swinging
them at you, either. Last week, a homeowner west of Long Lake had
just that encounter — and he wrestled the machete away from the
stranger, chased him down the road and told him to stay put until
Kitsap County Sheriff’s deputies arrived, reports say. Deputies
said the suspect remarked that he’d “only get a criminal trespass
for this.” Prosecutors have charged him with burglary.

HANDCUFFED AND RUNNING: An Alaska man was
arrested Friday for trying to pass counterfeit $20s at Walmart.
Poulsbo police responded and the man let them look in his wallet,
where officers found six $20s with the same serial
numbers. Police had handcuffed the man, who’d also violated
probation and had him sit on the push bars of a patrol
car. That’s when reports say the man “jumped to his feet and
took off running … still in handcuffs.” An officer gave chase and
tried his Taser, but missed. The suspect was ultimately tackled and
taken the Kitsap County jail.